Best Makeup Organizers & Storage Solutions 2017

Last year, I reviewed a few different makeup organizing solutions, which I’ll recap below, and I thought that it would be a good time to check in on my personal favorites and how I organize my makeup presently. It hasn’t changed much, but I received an email alert from The Container Store about their Luxe Acrylic system being on sale (and as a long-time shopper at the store, sales are not always as frequent as one might like–I can’t be the only one who loathes having to spend money to contain things that I spent money on!), which made me want to pass the word along.

So, first: storage sale alert!The Container Store has my favorite Linus Shallow / Deep drawers (25% off) along with their Luxe Acrylic Modular System (20% off) on sale. The modular system is great for someone who wants an acrylic system that is very customizable as you can build it as you please (though now, you can also select from a pre-made combination!). I have too much stuff to store, but I love the way it looked and worked overall–I still use what I bought for the original review to hold products-to-review (see my full review here).

Makeup Organizer Reviews

Check out the posts below for more images and detailed information about each system, pros and cons, and the like.

My Most Used Makeup Storage Solutions

My vanity (Ikea Besta Burs, 70″ is no longer sold, but they still have a 47″ version) is a larger, two-drawer “desk-like” piece of furniture with a separate mirror mounted on the fall just above it. I love the way it works for me, as it is very wide but has a narrow depth, and the high gloss finish has held up beautifully (never seems to stain or scratch); my only complaint is the drawers do not pull out all the way, so accessing anything in the very back is annoying. My vanity drawers hold basics like my favorite, everyday kind of cheek colors, concealers, foundations, primers, and the like. My chair is clear with a chrome-plated frame (Ikea Tobias) and is comfortable enough–and I saw Ikea has it in a translucent gray and bluish-teal (swoon!)–but very easy to clean (my main concern).

Temptalia’s Makeup Room

I have all of my brushes in glassware (just tall, drinking glasses) with round, glass beads (here) to keep the brushes in place on top of the vanity along the back edge. I also store my eyeliners similarly but in more decorative glasses (Rosanna Jazz Age Old Fashion Glasses). The wall-mounted mirror (Ikea Ronglan, no longer available, try Hovet) gives me a good “at a glance” or “from a normal viewing distance” view of myself, while the table top mirror (Simplehuman Rose Gold Pro) is magnified so I can see details but doesn’t feel distorting. The rug is by Safavieh and is part of the Cedar Brook Collection.

Temptalia’s Makeup Room

I keep the majority of my makeup in customized Ikea Besta two-column bookshelf units (I removed the shelves and put in 16 drawers instead), but it does not appear that any of those things are sold anymore, though you can certainly build some variation. (They have a single bookshelf unit here, and then the drawers are here with drawer fronts here.) They are, effectively, tall dressers with pull out drawers that are tall enough that I can store most glosses vertically but do not have a lot of wasted vertical space either. If I were to do it again, I would probably get more of a TV wall unit with a mix of drawers, shelves, and glass doors (or open shelving).

I always have Linus Shallow and Linus Deep Drawer Organizers on hand for organizing within drawers. (I use them everywhere, not just for makeup, but these make up 95% of the organizers for my “archives.”) You can check out this post to see them in action and get more insight into what each size holds from my experience. The sizes I use the most these days are: 6″ sq. (Shallow), 3″ x 12″ (Shallow), 6″ x 9″ (Shallow), and 4″ sq. (Deep).

51 Comments

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How is the Simplehuman mirror? I know they’re expensive, so I’ve been hesitant to consider them. I have a Conair that has regular on one side and 10x on the other, which is necessary for me, but the lightbulbs are too yellow and too dim. It’s ok for putting on evening makeup, but all wrong for doing office and daytime makeup. I bought a Conair with LED halo lighting, but it is even dimmer. I have to put my nose right up to it to get the light on my face!

I am looking forward to seeing what other Temptalia subscribers (Temptalians? Lol) do to organize their makeup and to getting some creative ideas and tips.

Smart tip to add a book light to the lipstick organizer for better light on the labels!

I love the Simplehuman mirror – even though there were things about the original model that annoyed me, I used it daily, and with the new model (that addressed my pain points, one of them being I can adjust how long it stays on for, and the other is an additional, much higher magnifying mirror you can attach to the front when needed – it sits on the back when out of use).

Beautiful and it gives me fantastic ideas for my makeup room once my partner and I buy a house. 🙂

There’s a container store not too far from where I live, I’m going to take a look and see what they may have. My vanity is a bit more cluttered, and those acrylic containers look perfect, especially to store my long, narrow eyeshadow palettes.

Great piece! Always appreciate seeing more organization ideas. It looks like the link to the glass beads you use to fill your brush cups isn’t working, would you mind checking? I store my brushes the same way (inspired by you, of course) and I’d love to get a few more containers with new beads. Thank you!

I always love getting a glimpse of your makeup room. Of course, I don’t have nearly as much makeup as you, but it’s nice to see how you organize your collection and put things out on display; it’s a nice combination of functional pieces and decorative pieces. I have the smaller desk and absolutely love it as well, but I think I love your gold art-deco glasses even more!

Not cheap at all but fell in love with the design, and they were $56.90 during the sale 🙁 I had actually been thinking about replacing my brush glasses with the art deco glasses but felt like it might be TOO much given how many cups I use for brushes.

I’m seriously regretting not going to the Container Store instead of getting my acrylic makeup organizer on Amazon. This Luxe unit seems much wider, allowing one to store more eyeshadow singles and blushes. Oh well, next time, I will. Wondering whether The Container Store has these in a “smoked” deep grayish-black or something darker?

If I ever get my own place that not a closet (I’ve only shared a house and had just my room or JR. apartments), I NEED a production room. lol

It would have cosplay/sewing/prop making area for half of it, quarter a filing/photo area and the other quarter for my makeup storage and applying.

I get so jelly about other people space that they can have an actual makeup room. lol

I have on ALEX 14 1/8×27 1/2 ” 5 drawer (stores per draw 1 for sewing supplies, 1 for products to review, 2 are my daily makeup draws with my eyeliner/lip liner and eye pencil cases, and 1 is just my desk/stationary tool) with LINNMON 47 1/4×23 5/8 ” and 2 ADILS leg and my desk are for my studio lighting table tripod, computer and photo, that is also my crafting table.

I have ALEX 9 drawers unit to store makeup and hair/FX stuff but it have a few boxes of more stuff that doesn’ fit. And on top, I have my Recollections Desktop Carousel which is filled with brushes and makeup tools with my cleaners in front of it.

Thank you so much for sharing this – this is fantastic! And on a personal note, it’s perfect timing – we are having our whole master bedroom and bathroom remodeled which meant that I basically got to design my fantasy makeup storage/vanity area – SO MANY DRAWERS!! I think that those organizers from the Container Store will be perfect for organizing within those drawers, and I also think that I’ll have to bite on that Simple Human mirror during the Nordstrom sale – I was thinking adding a wall-mounted one, but I think this is even better.

Hey Christine, I love this article. Is there some way (or maybe in the future) that we are able to “save” your posts to our profile for later analyzing? I often only have time to skin some posts and would love that feature!

I have one of Ikea’s popular Helmer – it’s small but houses a surprising amount of stuff for its size – and a 3-drawer unit also from Ikea that doesn’t seem to be sold anymore, but looks a lot like the Ivar, in plain pine.

I have very little storage space and need containers narrow enough to fit the shelves of my medicine cabinet. Container Store used to sell one with sections but it is long discontinued. It is currently held together with clear duct tape. When they have individual 4×4 inch ones in stock I grab them. I keep things not in current rotation in drawers from their office section. The only good thing about limited storage is that it does enforce discipline in buying and destashing.

There are some! I haven’t tried any of the actual perfumes that I can recall… I am actually not a huge fan of their candles as they do not have great throw (in my experience) but have been suckered into a few for their supposed scents and packaging!

That’s good to know! Candles that don’t have good projection are always a letdown. Especially much-hyped ones! I dig their Tam Dao fragrance though. Their perfumes are certainly different from Tom Ford’s (a favorite of yours I can tell, like a creeper), but intriguing in my opinion!

Posted too quickly! I wish I could edit my comments to include spur of the moment additions.

Anyway, I have long coveted the Ikea Helmer drawers and will get them one day for my bathroom. However, at the moment, I use a train case for makeup and a large plastic tackle organizer (ELCO Clear Polypropylene Storage Box with Lid and Adjustable Dividers), to store my brushes flat. Both reduce dust and moisture. Fishing and Microscopy suppliers have many similar organizers and very affordably too:https://www.tedpella.com/storage-boxes-bags_html/styrene-boxes.htmhttps://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/plastic_containers My palettes are unfortunately in a plastic sterilite drawer set with a plastic insert tray for lipgloss. Room for improvement!

I have a lipstick holder and I love it because it means I can see all of my lipsticks at once; which leads me to make sure I use all of them more! I found when I couldn’t see them all I’d forget about ones I had and just use the same couple over and over again.

I have an odd sort of set up in my closet (which is quite large and has a window) and I’ve found that those hanging multi-pocket organizers meant for jewelry are FANTASTIC for organizing and storing my smaller makeup products.

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